Yuki Tsunoda has declared his real-life experience of Red Bull’s problematic RB21 to be “more tricky” compared to his feelings from the simulator sessions.
On his debut for the team, Tsunoda delivered a credible performance in the first practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix, finishing a tenth slower than four-time F1 champion team-mate Max Verstappen, the position Red Bull wants its second driver.
FP2, however, was wrecked by four red flags that reduced the session to just 24 minutes of running, and with Tsunoda unable to complete a soft-tyre run, leaving him down in 18th on the timesheet.
On home soil around his favoured Suzuka circuit, Tsunoda was still able to gain a representative feeling of a car that has profound balance issues, and which played a part in costing Liam Lawson the seat after the first two races.
Tsunoda had expressed confidence he could handle the RB21 after his outings in the simulator but has now been given food for thought in the wake of experiencing it on track.
“FP1 was better than expected, a good start for myself,” he said. “In FP2, I didn’t set a lap time due to the number of stops in the session. You could maybe call the session a shambles for everyone, so lots of work to do.
“I still maybe struggled. We have to look through the FP2 data more, but so far, overall, it’s okay. I just have to build up the confidence more.”
As to his feelings between the car and the simulator, that is telling and will be of concern to Red Bull.
“What I felt is a bit different to the simulator,” he said. “A little bit more than what I expected in terms of car feeling.
“I knew anyway it was going to be different in the real car. It was just a little bit more exaggerated in the real car. Feeling bit more tricky.”
